


A Forever Kind of Deal

by fangirl98



Category: Adventure Time
Genre: F/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-14
Updated: 2014-12-14
Packaged: 2018-03-01 12:40:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2773337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl98/pseuds/fangirl98





	A Forever Kind of Deal

"This is not really a forever kind of deal, you know that right?" He told her.

She didn't look up from her video game. "Mmmhmmm... So you keep telling me."

"Well, I just don't want you to feel sad or anything," he said. "You know, when I'm gone."

"Okay, I won't feel sad," Fionna said.

He scowled at her. "This is serious, Fionna. I mean, I love you and stuff, but you've got an expiration date."

"Uhuh," she said. "Thanks for the reminder, Marshall Lee."

"Last of your kind and junk," said Marshall, helpfully.

"Yeah, yeah. Heard it before."

"You realize you're like an adult now," he said.

"Really? I had no idea," she finally put her game down. "So, you're saying I'm too old for you."

"No, that's not it at all. Look, Fionna," said Marshall, "I just said I love you. And I know we've talked about this-"

"Again, not today. Don't know what I'm going to want tomorrow, Marshall, but once again, today is not the day I want to- to do that."

"It won't even hurt," he reasoned, scooting closer to her ear.

"Not even likely, because it's not going to happen. Not today, and probably not soon."

His fingers rubbed his temple, "It's just that, you know, I worry about you. All feeble and junk."

"Marshall Lee! I'm 18, not 82, I am not 'all feeble and junk.'"

"You will be!" he shouted. Her face went still. He couldn't tell if she was angry or scared yet. He took a gamble and elaborated. "Have you ever seen an old human being? No, you haven't. There aren't any anymore, and do you know why that is? It's because human beings are fragile, and they only get more fragile over time."

"You want me to marry you," she said, absolutely deadpan, "and in order to convince me to marry you, you're going to try to frighten me. This is so typical of you, Marshall Lee. Is there a problem you can't solve by startling someone?"

He looked away, hurt. "Listen," he said, "Listen, because I want to be sure you've heard this." He turned back, and made eye contact with her. "I love you. I never want to spend a minute of my life, or my unlife, or whatever you want to call it, without knowing I'll see you again. I waited a thousand years just to meet you, do you have any idea how hollow my life would be if you were to just wander back out of it again?"

"This is not how you ask someone to marry you!" she shouted. "You have to make everything about you, and about your needs. What about me? I need to know that you love me and you don't just need me- And that I love you, I need to know that for sure. I can't marry you because you're afraid I'm going to die."

He leaned his head on her shoulder, almost despairing.

"I never tell you no, Marshall," Fionna said, "just not today. And not any day until I know what I want, and I really understand what it is that you want. And if that day comes, not when but if, then I'll marry you, and you could turn me into a vampire- or a lizard for all I care, so long as I'm sure. You're not making me sure, you're just making me panic."

She ran her fingers through his hair and continued, "You know, I thought getting married was suppose to be about romance. I thought it was about promising something. I've never been to a wedding, so maybe it's an urban myth."

"You went to Gumball's," Marshall said.

"That doesn't count, it was an arranged marriage," she said, "It was about politics or lineage or something, I don't know. We all know they're both seeing someone else, so I don't know what the point was to any of that. But they're not people like us," she said. "They're not people like us, who love each other. And because we love each other, above all other reasons, I think we should take getting married and turning me into a vampire and whatever else it is you want very seriously."

"Why didn't Cake and Monochromicorn get married?" he asked, suddenly, as though this were the first time he'd ever thought of the question. "They have children together, they've been dating for a long time. Why don't they get married?"

"I think it's probably pretty much like why we aren't married yet," Fionna said, "Marriage is way serious business. How many times has LSP been married now?"

"That's a thing that can be counted?" Marshall asked. "Still doesn't make sense."

"The one thousand year old vampire prefers traditional marriage over cohabitation. Noted."

"Don't make fun of me for being old fashioned," Marshall said, crossing his arms.

"I'm not making fun of you for being old fashioned, I'm making fun of you for being old," she said. "But it does kind of make sense that you would be a traditionalist I guess. I've never met a human grandpa."

He sulked.

"But I guess that's what a grandpa would be like," she giggled, "Are you mad?"

"No," he said.

"Oh, come on, you're a little bit mad. Cheer up, sad sack," she said, "I'm here with you."

He softened. "I don't know how I'm going to convince you-"

"Not with that attitude," Fionna said, "That's how. You need to let life happen to us a little bit. I'm a big girl, I don't need a man to take care of me. But I do want to be with you."

"Fionna," he said, and then he was quiet. And before long, he was humming something she hadn't heard before, and she nearly swooned, because she knew he was writing her a song again. She didn't want to break him from this, especially not before he could write it down. He went up stairs, and she went back to her video game.

She wondered if she'd get tired of his moods, if they got married. She'd have to get tired of something, if she lived to be a thousand like Marshall Lee. She'd never tell him, but that was one reason she was hesitant to accept his offers. She wondered whether they could stay together forever. And if they couldn't, forever would be a very long time to spend without him, especially once all her other friends were dead.

And there were a lot of things about being a vampire that would be hard for her. She'd miss sunny days, and spending time with Cake, and having her own skin tone. That was another thing she wondered about.

Would her skin go blue like Marshall Lee's after they were "married?" Or did he look like that before? He was half demon, but what was the other half? What did he look like before he turned?

It wasn't so much a vanity issue as it was a sign that she knew tragically little about being a vampire and he hadn't endeavored to explain much to her. Was he embarrassed? Did he think it was awkward?

She didn't know, and that was lumping terrifying. She didn't know if they could have children together as vampires, or if she would be the last human there is giving up the last of humanity there would ever be to spend more time than she deserved with someone she loved.

When they talked about it, he only wanted to call it marriage, but the context made it obvious that he wanted more than that. He didn't want to talk about any of the hard parts she anticipated. He only wanted to talk about the scary things about staying human, and he never mentioned the scary things about being a vampire.

But she wanted to say yes. She loved him, absolutely. She knew that much, that if she had forever she'd want to spend it with Marshall Lee. And Prince Gumball, Cake, Monocromicorn, LSP, Treetrunks, both Lemongrabs, all of them, they'd come and go. But Marshall Lee was forever, living or dead. The desperation he felt was just as near to her heart, though she'd never tell him that. Because she wasn't afraid of dying. Every human being before her, with very few exceptions, died. Her friends would die. Her sister would die. She could live out her entire life with him and then die, and she'd be happy, because she knew that in whatever beyond Glob had built, she'd be with friends. And he was strong, and he could find someone else someday and do it all again. But if he left her alive, that would be a unique new pain.

So that was her real sticking point. She didn't really want to be a vampire because she didn't know what it would mean for her. It was too lumping mysterious, and she didn't know how to demystify his world. But she did want to marry him. She did want the guarantee that he'd stay with her as long as she lived. She wanted the promise that he'd love her for a very long time.

Forever, though, was a scary word, and it was the word he wanted to use. He wanted to bring her into the darkness with him and never let go. And that would be hard. It would come with the stigma she knew he carried. Gumball never liked Marshall Lee, and it wasn't because he was a musician. And Marshall was always telling her that vampires were evil.

And then there was Marshall's title. He never really talked about what being the Vampire King meant. She had a feeling that any vampire court there may be wouldn't be very nice. He wasn't born the Vampire King, his mother was the Lady of Evil. She didn't really want to know how he'd earned his prestige.

Oh, and marrying into the Abadeer family. That's a whole new level of horror.

But she was afraid to be alone. She'd never been with anyone else. She thought something might happen between her and Gumball at one point, but then she and Marshall Lee had gotten closer and she didn't understand how she could have ever thought about anyone else.

There were other suitors, she'd been pursued by a number of handsome princess and a few not so handsome ones. Marshall Lee had very nearly had a dangerous altercation with Flame Prince. But by then she already knew what she wanted.

And when he confessed... That was the best day of her life. She felt like she'd only just discovered what happiness is.

And now he was trying to seal the deal. But his tactics were critically flawed. It was completely unromantic, but it was very Marshall Lee and she could tell it came from his heart.

And it made her miserable, because she didn't want to have to choose. She felt too young to get married, but her relationship was that serious.

When he came back down the stairs, she noticed a change in him. It wasn't his posture, really, but it was something akin to that. If she had no other indication, his war bass slung from his guitar strap would have told her she was going to hear more than a typical song.

And he sang,

"You want me to make a promise,  
Fionna. And it's taken me a while,

I'm bad at talking about my feelings,

Mushiness isn't my style.

And you always know what I mean  
Fionna, I don't need to speak my mind

But you know I think you're mathematical.

You're beautiful, intuitive and kind.

I've spent a thousand years,

Keeping a lock on my heart,  
But now that I know you, Fionna,

Maybe that's not very smart.

How could I make a promise,

As firm as the way that I feel?

I wouldn't do this for anyone but you,  
Fionna, because it wouldn't be real."

And then he stopped singing, and Fionna started to feel very nervous. She knew what he was going to do.

He took off his guitar strap and set his bass aside. He got down on one knee. The Vampire King humbled himself completely and was at her mercy and hers alone. Suddenly the question wasn't about him anymore, it was about her. He dug in his shirt pocket for a moment and then produced the inevitable box. And time stopped. And Fionna stood breathless, watching him. But then time started again, and she reached her hand down and put her hand on the lid before he could open it.

But she could not put her hands over his mouth, and the words came out and for once she took them seriously. "Fionna, will you marry me?"

She stood stock still, she barely breathed. He'd asked a thousand times, but now it felt more real. The shape of the question had changed. It was the same, he'd used those words too many times already. But his heart was more in them than it had every been before, with all his frantic begging and vague threats, this was as sudden as it would have been if he'd attacked her. He hadn't said anything new or different. But this time the words sounded right.

She almost felt trapped, not by him, but by her own feelings. She couldn't say no, but she could still say not today. This time she meant it less.

"Could we try living together first?" she said, after a while.

"Is that a yes?"

"No," she said, "It's a maybe. And it's chock full of conditions. We're going to live together, and I'm going to need to like it. And you're going to have to teach me about what it means to actually be a vampire. And then, if I think we can do the forever thing, then you can..." she felt of her neck. "Marry me. But only if I'm sure that's what I want to do, and you're still sure it's what you want to do."

"Okay," he said, "But you're getting your own room."

"What?" she said, "Are we going to sleep in separate beds when we're married?"

"No, silly," he said, "I just don't want to kill you in my sleep or something. I mean, not that I'd do that, it's just, you know, you smell nice and I might get hungry."

"You're kidding, right?" she asked.

"Maybe I am, and maybe I'm not. I am evil you know," he said. "Definitely very evil."

"Whatever, Marshall."


End file.
